Detroit Free Press Columnist

MSU offensive lineman Donavon Clark. / Mike Carter/USA Today Sports

EAST LANSING — Michigan State right tackle Donavon Clark sat at a table in Spartan Stadium and started to stutter.

“Um, um, um,” he said, as if stuck in thought, trying to force out a sentence.

Clark was nervous and finding the words came hard. But after a while, the nerves melted away and the stuttering disappeared.

Clark was one of the featured players at Michigan State’s football media day, which was a huge personal victory, a testament to how much he has grown.

Clark has stuttered since second grade. He used to be teased in elementary school because people couldn’t understand him, but he has learned to overcome it. He has faced his fears and learned to deal with it; and there he was on Monday, sitting in the spotlight, put out in front of the media.

This was something that seemed impossible just a few years ago.

“That tells you everything — he’s at media day,” said secondary coach Harlon Barnett, who was his main recruiter. “That’s awesome.”

Clark is expected to start at right tackle, but this was so much bigger than football.

This was somebody making a statement, in more ways than one.

“He has overcome so much,” offensive line coach Mark Staten said. “He can share it with the rest of the nation that it’s OK, to tell young people that it’s OK. He has gotten so much more comfortable in his own skin. It’s when he gets put on the spot, sometimes, when he has to stop and take a breath.”

“It’s tough,” Staten continued. “You feel for those guys. Why are they having to go over that hurdle?”

Getting comfortable

As a freshmen at MSU, Clark stuttered a lot because he was filled with nerves and excitement when talking to his new teammates and his coaches, especially Mark Dantonio. “The head man at the table?” Clark asked, smiling. “How do you not get nervous?”

But as he grew comfortable, the stuttering disappeared. “Coach D said he notices that I don’t stutter as much and coach Staten says the same thing,” Clark said. “It’s also a comfortability level.”

Clark has learned how to relax and take a few breathes to collect his thoughts. “I tell people that I stutter all the time,” he said. “All my teammates know I stutter, but they never make fun of me for it. They understand it’s something that I have.”

And now, as a starter for one of the best teams in the country, he has become a role model. A few weeks ago, he spoke at a youth football camp. “There was a parent there and he brought his son up to me,” Clark said. “He said he noticed that I stuttered. He said that it’s kind of ironic because his little boy stutters; and I told him, I gave him some advice, ‘Don’t get nervous.’ ”

Personality comes out

Clark can now speak his mind with his teammates; and he no longer stutters in the offensive line room. If you dig deeper, you will find a bigger message here that might explain one of the many reasons this team is so successful. How the players are so accepting of one another. How the friendships seem so genuine and how comfortable they feel together.

I asked quarterback Connor Cook about Clark’s stuttering, and he looked at me dumbfounded.

“I don’t even notice it anymore,” Cook said. “When he was a freshmen, he was nervous meeting new people. But he doesn’t stutter at all anymore. I think it’s because he’s comfortable around us. We are all brothers and he’s confident in himself. I forget that he even has that problem. When he does do it, guys don’t even think twice. He’s funny. He’s goofy, he loves to dance and goof around. He’s a freak athletically; he’s super flexible. He can bend down and touch his head on the ground. It’s crazy flexible. He’s just a fun-loving kid, obviously super aggressive on the football field, but doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

The coaches have seen tremendous growth in Clark, both personally and on the field. “From Day 1 to now, I’ve seen a young man who has really grown in confidence,” Barnett said. “He has always been an outgoing guy, but now I see all of his personality coming out.”

And it came out at media day, sitting in the spotlight, once again overcoming his stuttering and his voice coming out strong and clear.